Oatibix Cranberry

Up there with bread and cake, cereal has got to be one of my biggest food weaknesses. I can devour bowl after bowl of crunchy bliss in one sitting. I cannot even let myself buy granola - it's so delicious I cannot walk away after one bowl and I can easily shovel 200g of the stuff down in one sitting. The worst culprit has to be Quaker's Granola, which is the cereal equivalent of cocaine.

Whilst treating myself to a trip around Waitrose (well it is Easter weekend and we all deserve something special around this time of year), I came across a boxed of reduced Oatibix Cranberry. I've been meaing to sample Oatibix for ages. I absolutely adore porridge, muesli and granola and a bowl of Weetabix is always a fantastic way to start my day (especially if you microwave it on a cold day. It goes sumptuously soggy, turning it into a delicious warming mush).

I have to say, I think I've got another contender for cereals that are hard to stop at just one bowl. (Though thankfully, it's not as addictive as granola). Oatibix are little crunchy pillows of oats that have the lovely textured taste of Weetabix with the added crunch and bulk you get from oat based products.

Studded with glistening little cranberries, they glow a ruby red from within the sandy coloured mini Weetabix, winking at you like little gems in a sea of milk and oats. They are also satisfyingly solid.

Many cereals like Special K or Cornflakes disintegrate into the milk and you gulp them down without even really tasting them. Oatibix soak up a little milk but they don't absorb it like a sponge, giving you a lovely balance between hefty crunch and softened milky oats. They also left me feeling comfortably full, rather than craving more, which is just what you want from a product that is supposed to set you up for the day.

It was just my luck then, that the reason they were reduced in Waitrose is because the cranberry version is being discontinued. Looks like I'm going to have to ration these out for as long as I can...